Combined Sussex Clubs Regatta 19-20 July 2008
Following the cancellation due to very high winds of the planned Sussex Regatta in March, Robin Stevenson and his Sussex Regatta team had arranged to combine the SYC Summer regatta with a second go at the combined club event, but Barda was far from ready.

Jason and I had only got Barda back from Fecamp late on the Sunday beforehand, and after work on Friday I got down to the mooring to unload all the cross-channel weight, which happened to include a few cases of newly imported and very quaffable Bordeaux. I knew Barda's bottom needed a clean, but in all honesty I just couldn’t face a dive in the canal ditch water on a Friday evening, so left her with a quick bottom rub with a broom from above.

Saturday
Saturday morning awoke with the roar of 25-30 knots piling in from the south west, so everybody knew they were in for a beating. Daff was on the boat first, keen to play with his new runner winches, along with Rob Cocker who had never set foot on a sailing boat of any description before. With the tops of the waves being blown off the short nasty chop outside Shoreham harbour, he was certainly being thrown in at the deep end.

Jason, as always, was there to run the foredeck with Nigel and Rob Campbell in the cockpit. We also welcomed a touch of glamour aboard with Susie standing by her tipsy promise made on a Friday evening in the Sovereign to sail with us. Susie is Jason’s sister and she knows all about yachts and just how tough today was likely to be.

Getting the whole fleet into the lock was a squeeze as we had visiting boats from both Eastbourne's Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club and Littlehampton's Adur Yacht Club, which also included a 'Baby Barda' in the shape of Beneteau First Class 8.

Listening to the chatter on channel 77 it became plain that most of the Brighton Marina Yacht Club boats were holed up down the coast, with fingers collectively crossed that Robin would cancel the Saturday racing, but after the last non-event that just wasn’t going to happen. With conditions too bad to keep a committee boat on station, Robin went to plan B which would use the SYC start lines off the beach along with our fixed marks. On board Barda we put on lifejackets and dragged the small #3 on deck to match a couple of reefs in the main - a bit conservative perhaps, but in the sustained gusts to come this proved to be the right sail-plan.

Outside the harbour it was indeed rough and it was great to see that at least Jonty Layfield was pounding his way up from Brighton to join us with the locally famous J39 Sleeper - at least this tough competition was in IRC1 whilst we were racing in IRC2.

Race One
Barda had a reasonable start at the seaward end of the Old Fort Line and we went for an early tack to get further out to sea before heading east to the mark. Our thinking was that in the conditions the foul tide wasn’t going to be as big a problem as slamming into the waves, which hopefully wouldn't be quite to big in the deeper water further out. This seemed to pay and we bashed our way down to #2 which used to be called Beechams (I've heard it said that this buoy used to mark an out-fall from the Beechams Pharmaceutical factory and that no fish in the area ever went down with the flu).

At least we were experiencing July temperatures which made the thorough soaking relatively comfortable, though the violent movement of the boat was starting to make Rob Cocker wonder why he had been looking forwards to his first ever sail quite so much. We had a clean rounding at #2 and it didn't take long to get our medium airs kite out of the bag and flying in the 25 knots or so of wind, followed naturally by Barda which gave us a hell of a sleigh ride - amazingly we were too busy to look down at the log but it felt very, very fast.

It soon became apparent that we just couldn't safely sail high enough with the kite to make the next mark without crashing out into a broach, so went for the spinnaker drop which didn’t go quite as planned and ended up with us trawling the sail behind us in the water. We had a lucky escape with no damage done and hardened up to make mark #1 in good time with little room to spare. Sleeper wasn't far in front at this point and we think she must have made a similar mistake - the 'permanent' mark Sleeper had been looking for had been mown down a few weeks earlier by a passing ship and had been replaced for the regatta with a big orange inflatable cylinder mark which may have confused things.

Unfortunately for us the next leg was at a better angle for the spinnaker, but by now all the gear was all on the wrong side of the bucking Barda and with the unpacked kite still in a sodden mess down below, we had to take the pain sailing without a spinnaker at under 10 knots all the way down to #6, impotently watching as the asymmetric SB’3 in our IRC2 fleet made up all the ground we'd taken out of them on the earlier beat.

Leaving the Old Sewer Mark (#6) close to starboard we hardened up onto another beat and slowly climbed up to windward of Glider II, which was flying off the crests alongside us for a while making quite a spectacle. Mark 4 came up quite quickly and we flicked round to white sail into the beach at a fair old rate to finish on the old fort line in a very soggy 4th place.

Hove-to, Barda was still heaving all over the place, so we settled for cold pasties whilst Daff broke out his stash of cheese sandwiches, just in time to see his lunch box filled by a rogue wave; my we chuckled. Rob Cocker was bravely chewing on a pastie, though he had turned a lighter shade of green and Susie was already starting to count her bruises.

The next race was to start as soon as the PY fleet had finished, but the wait wasn’t much of a rest for us as a Beneteau First Class 10 in a near gale isn't a great place for a relaxing picnic (but not I suspect as unpleasant as an SB3 - grow up chaps and get proper boats!)

Race Two
Somewhere during the morning we’d lost the bolt rope guide that feeds the headsail into the foil, which meant a delayed jib hoist and Barda being over a minute late for the start. To make matters worse I'd also missed a wind shift that favoured starting close to the beach, so before the one minute gun had gone I’d put Barda at the back of the IRC 2 fleet.

The wind was still honking and we made up a bit of ground along the coast but realistically we were not going to get a result in this much shorter race. Round the new sewer mark #4 we hardened up and punched upwind making over 6 knots despite the chop. At the rounding we found ourselves in close company with John Wilson and his surprisingly fast Swan Flyover on our starboard quarter and the Ramus 'Ant Hill Mob' on Devils Advocate to port. The charge back inshore was great fun, with all of us making what we could from the waves. At one point Barda was picked up and thrown forwards holding a perfect surf right past the much larger Devil, though they did press home their windward advantage to get back in front, only to be shown Barda's transom once we got back on the beat down to the finish.

John on Flyover was obviously not as tired as everybody else as he trounced us with a perfect shortest distance to the line approach that took chunks out of what we'd though to be an unassailable lead. I'd fallen from the high side across the cockpit at one point, and although I had managed to avoid crash tacking Barda in the process something unspeakable had happened to my knee, so the finish of what I assumed would be our last race of the day was all I could focus on. Oh how dangerous it is to assume anything!

Race Three
I thought pity would be shown and the fleet would be sent home after two punishing races, so when I realised we were going to go again into the unrelenting seas, I did for a fleeting moment think about throwing in the towel and heading for a beer at a very stable bar. But it really was just for a fleeting moment and as a team Barda managed to get enthused about ending the day on a high with a better result.

We were down on that line in plenty of time and although I'd still got the end wrong things were not exactly disastrous and the course was thankfully very short, which was just as well as like my bedraggled crew I were just about done for.

Round the west mark we popped the big kite and skipped down the waves heading east. I have only vague recollections of this race, though I do remember getting round 6 in a very tidy fashion, tacking out to sea to give us enough room to beat past the harbour arms on port, before tacking over to starboard to cross the Old Fort line.

Back in the lock Colin Gisby and his team of happy helpers were there with a smile and a free beer, which didn’t touch the sides. Back on our mooring, tired hands meant tidying up the boat took much longer than usual, though we don't normally have to sponge water out every compartment after a race - it really did look like a washing machine down below and I took both spinnakers home with me to try and get them dry and packed ready for Sunday.

The Sussex Regatta Fleet squeezes into the main lock on Sunday morning.

Sunday
I awoke on Sunday groaning as a wave of aches and bruises reminded me about yesterdays racing, yet smiled as the absence of any howling around our house on Shoreham Beach suggested that lighter winds had arrived as forecast. A squint out of the window confirmed that the warm wind was now skipping in from the north, carrying with it light clouds and the promise of sunny spells.

The seas had calmed down to a mere ripple and we were in for a grand days racing, which hopefully would make up for the skimpy buffet at the summer party on Saturday night.

A bit of a moan
This is where I get myself into trouble. I know these events are arranged by volunteers who put huge efforts into the social side with few thanks, but it would be plain wrong to say that everybody thought the £17 ticket price for Saturday nights party was money well spent. I noticed that there were more than a few active SYC members who voted with their feet and partied elsewhere, an action that speaks louder than these words. After racing, hard working crews need a substantial carb-heavy meal, not a pre-prepared side-dish of party snacks. I was told we were allowed to go back to the buffet to refill the tiny side plates we'd been issued, but by then there were just a few table fillers left and the cheese board was already barren (and no we didn't turn up late). I was not alone in going home early and having something else to eat. I know it's bad form to gripe like this over things I would simply hate to be involved in arranging, but if there’s a problem with the racing then the Race Officer always gets to hear about it, and so should the caterers - the kitchen needs to know when customers feel unhappy.

Back to Sunday...
With the team prepping Barda for departure I was at the nav desk doing some housekeeping when I heard Priscilla, the BMYC committee boat so kindly run by Jack Voss, hailing race control on channel 77. I relayed the call and gave Team Barda the good news that we were going to have a proper start line on the water and I had little doubt that we were in for a windward-leeward kind of day.

Indeed Robin went for the classic windward leeward course detailed in the Sailing Instructions as Course A (see the diagram taken from the instructions). You start on a beat heading for the windward mark (A) about a mile and a half away, followed by a 100 metres or so to the spacer mark (B) where you hoist your spinnaker and head downwind. On the downwind leg you avoid going over the start/finish line and round the bottom mark (C) another half mile distant, dropping your spinnaker and going close hauled back up the course again, crossing the start finish line on each lap. We basically keep doing this for lap after lap until the race officer gets busy with his gun finishing us on the line - how can you cock this lesson in simplicity up you may ask? Well wait and see.

Susie was now enjoying a lie-in at home with her young son Harry who could help mummy tend her myriad of bruises, with our sixth spot being taken by Rob Campbell ready to help Nigel in the cockpit (though he did moan a bit about the lack of croissants aboard - jeez!) Rob Cocker was back for more, looking much happier now that the conditions had eased, though he didn't seem overly keen on being called 'Cock' to prevent confusion with two Rob's now aboard. Daff, as sprightly as ever was ready with the runners and Jason was back to see if I'd threaten to punch him on the nose again - things had got a bit stressed whilst we were hurtling along on the edge of control during the previous day and he kept calling me to head up into what I knew would be an almighty broach. It turns out he wanted to drop the kite first - my fault for not listening I guess, but the foredeck/helm banter seems to keep the rest of the team amused.

Race Four
"Oh my goodness that start line looks short" I said as we mooched around waiting for our sequence. Even with the line perfectly square, with both IRC fleets getting away together it was going to be an almighty bunfight on the line. We did a couple of trial runs to the line and I briefed the guys on what I wanted.

It all worked pretty well in practice, but when it came to the real thing we came in both fast and early. Jason directing from the bow thought all was OK but hadn't realised that the start was from the stern mast on Priscilla rather than the bow, so we found ourselves with a great start, packed in amongst the top boats with no space on either side when we got an individual recall for being OCS (On Course Side). Nooooo!

Along with 'Exocet' we'd been over the line and had to get back around an end to get a clean start. Sleeper, just to windward, called "Don’t tack", which as a statement of the bleeding obvious gets a 10 out of 10 and I'm afraid to say I threw Jonty a rather robust response, for which I apologised to him later. As we frantically slowed Barda down, searching for space to turn without getting in anybody else way, we found enough room to get clear and after a smart about the stern of Priscilla, we hammered off upwind.

We chased every shift and I have to say the tacking from my team was outstanding. It was just like our days racing one-design J24's, and being able to just concentrate on keeping the boat fast rather than worrying about handling was amazing. Team Barda showed me just how far we had come, although Jason letting the spinnaker halyard fly free proved entertaining. After a bit of perching on the pushpit rails waving a boat hook about as we closed on the spacer mark, Jason managed to get the halyard back on deck and ran back to the sharp end to sort out the spinnaker hoist in double quick time.

The guys pulled off a great gybe and we powered into the leeward rounding claiming another scalp as we went through. By now we were utterly focussed on the regular wind shifts, which was a shame as due to my limited capacity for multi-tasking I'd completely forgotten about going through the start/finish gate on the upwind leg. That we’d missed this and had sailed an incorrect course was gleefully called to us by Tim on the helm of the Laser SB3 Bathstore. Our mood plummeted, well mine did anyway, and being so far up the course I handed the helm to Nigel as I went down below to radio Race Control our retirement. Doh!

When things are bad there’s only one thing to do at sea. Make a mug of tea and get the pasties in the oven, which is just what we did. In retrospect, if I ’d known that there would be four laps of the course rather than the expected three I would have pressed on and perhaps saved another three points...more of that later.

We did however get quite a laugh whilst spectating watching a little Wayfarer dinghy who was out having a noodle around cruise straight onto the course and start luffing up Dave Ramus and Devils Advocate (see picture above).

Race Five
Waiting for the slower boats to finish seemed to take forever but eventually Robin got us into the starting sequence for the last race of the weekend (in the picture that's Robin standing on the gunnel of Priscilla musing over the large windshifts).

With the last OCS disaster fresh in our minds we managed a clean start in the last race of the day, crossing on the gun at the pin end, and were able to tack onto port and go clear ahead of the main pack behind. I wanted to get on the right hand side of the course as that seemed to be the place with the best pressure, although the right hand side advantage semed to shrink as the race progressed.

Upwind we went straight back into the groove with everybody really enjoying getting the boat going fast. Having a great crew pays huge dividends and we were well up on the faster IRC1 boats, not just through great boatspeed and pointing, but also on getting the simple drills of getting the kite up and down just right.

On the last hoist of the day we had our kite up and pulling within a boat length of the spacer mark, followed by a faultless gybe and a textbook wide-in close-out leeward rounding. Tacking for the finish line after incredibly managing to sail the right way for four circuits of the course, we ducked an IRC2 boat that we’d just lapped and Jason got quite emotional as he counted just one SB3 from our fleet in front and lot of IRC1 boats and most importantly Team Bathstore a long way behind.

Whatever our final result, we finished our regatta on a really big high with everybody disappointed there wasn't going to be a sixth race to improve even further on what was a 3rd place on corrected time. Much later and with Barda back on the her mooring, sipping a wet one on the balcony at SYC we learnt that our 4th place overall was just 3 points away from 3rd. Well there's always next year, and if Team Barda can continue to improve at the same rate from our 7th pace in 2007, then who knows, next year we may well be in the silverware department.

To see all of our pictures taken during the Sussex Regatta click here >>

I'll post a link from here to the overall results once they are published.

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